Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
By: Cian Foley
If you have ever owned a walkman, kept a diary, played a gameboy, used a filofax or simply jotted on a napkin or a cigarette box then a PDA might be for you.
Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are basically handheld computers that can be used for all of the above purposes and much more. PDAs provide personal organisation software such as email, an address book, diary, to-do list, notepad etc. But they have far more diverse applications than traditional personal organizers. They are also powerful multimedia (sound and vision) processing tools that can be used as full-blown multimedia players capable of audio (MP3) and movie (MPEG) playback. Many have built in microphones that facilitate Dictaphone functionality. Video games can be played on them and they can also be used for everyday PC tasks such as browsing the web, word processing and spreadsheets to name but a few.
Using a PDA is quite intuitive. A stylus (pen like instrument) is provided as a replacement for the mouse to interact with the touch-sensitive screen.
Text input is performed with the stylus through handwriting recognition software or though a virtual on-screen keyboard. A directional pad and buttons are provided for menu navigation.
PDAs come with a cradle or USB cable, to connect with a Personal Computer (PC). The PDA can be placed in this cradle in order to transfer files, such as MP3s (music files), from the PC to the PDA. They can also be fitted with infrared, Bluetooth and wireless LAN technologies for wireless capabilities.
PDAs of today have more computing power than some PCs manufactured in the 1990s. An average Pocket PC of today would have the following technical specifications: 64 megabytes of RAM, 64 megabytes of ROM and a 400MHz processor. Memory can be expanded through use of the expansion slots provided.
It is felt at the TSSG that PDAs of the future will merge with mobile phones resulting in an all in one tool that will provide seamless access to both the Internet and your mobile network.
